Tag: Sustainability

If you spend any time on our campus, it’s easy to see—as President James Spaniolo puts it—that “UT Arlington’s star is on the rise.” To see our progress in print, check out the recent President’s Report 2011. The School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA) is proud to be a part of that progress and we’re proud to be featured in the report.

As SUPA’s applied research arm, the Institute of Urban Studies completes dozens of projects each year—from the state’s Panhandle northlands, south to the Gulf Coast, east to the Piney Woods, and west to Big Bend. Many are in urban and rural North Texas.

Led by graduate students, the projects include strengthening local economies through feasibility and corridor studies, economic development ideas, updates of parks and land-use plans, citizen/business surveys, and more.

“Coming from an architectural background, sustainability manifests itself in all aspects of the business,” Mayfield says. “Through the program, I gained insight into the importance of working with stakeholders to effect change, and I got a better idea of the importance of looking at the life cycle of a project as opposed to the urgency to solve an immediate need.”

Offered through the School of Urban and Public Affairs at the UT Arlington Fort Worth Center and in Dallas, the program teaches students to understand and measure the social, environmental, and financial components related to sustainability. This brings the big picture of sustainability into sharper focus for the program’s graduates.